Punished by Proxy
A basket of fine cherries having been sent to Frederick the Great, at a time when that fruit was extremely scarce, he sent them by one of his pages to the Queen. The page, tempted by the beauty of the fruit, could not resist tasting, and finding them delicious, devoured them all, without reflecting on the consequences.
A few days afterwards Frederick asked the Queen how she had liked the cherries.
“Cherries?” said the Queen, “what cherries?”
“Why, did not Clist, the page, bring you a basket the other day?”
“No,” replied her majesty, “I have not seen any.”
“Oh,” said the King, “I will give that rogue something more savory.”
He then went to his room and wrote the following note to the officer of the royal guard.
“Give the bearer twenty-five lashes, and take his receipt for them.”
He then called Clist, and told him to take the note to the guard-house and wait for an answer.
The page, however, fearing something wrong, determined to send the note by somebody else, and just as he was going out at the palace door, he met a Jew banker who was well-known at court, and asked him to carry the King’s note. The Jew, glad of an opportunity to be obliging, went at once. On his arrival at the guard-house, the officer read the note, told the messenger to wait, and called out the guard. The Jew, thinking it was to do him honor as a messenger from court, begged the officer not to give himself any trouble.
“I will not,” he replied, and ordered the guard to seize the Jew, and give him twenty-five lashes, which was immediately done. The Jew, with his honor and his back severely wounded, was going away; but the officer told him he could not go till he had given a written acknowledgment for what he had received. The Jew was obliged to give it for fear of getting another beating.
The affair soon came to the ears of the King, who, though he could not help laughing heartily at the adventure, was obliged to confer some favors on the hero of it, as the banker frequently advanced him large sums of money, in cases of necessity.